3 men killed in unrelated shootings, officials say

Dan P. Blake, Tribune staff reporterCHICAGO TRIBUNE

Three men were shot to death in separate outbursts of violence within a nine-hour span across the city, Chicago police said Thursday.

In the first shooting, two men were standing in a gangway about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday in the 8000 block of South Burnham Avenue when witnesses said a man ran up and began shooting, killing James Collier, 24, and wounding the 41-year-old man he was with, authorities said.

Collier of the 7600 block of South Bishop Street was pronounced dead minutes later in Northwestern Memorial Hospital, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.

"Witnesses are saying [the gunman] was a gangbanger. ... Apparently [detectives] know who they're looking for," said Officer David Banks. The older victim was in stable condition in Advocate South Shore Hospital, Banks said.

Meanwhile, detectives are questioning a suspect in the fatal shooting of a man about 1:30 a.m. Thursday as he was getting into his vehicle outside his home in the 700 block of North Central Avenue on the West Side.

The victim, identified by the medical examiner's office Thursday as Russell Thompson, 25, was with someone else when a man approached from a gangway and opened fire, police said. The gunman had been in a dispute with Thompson and returned later with a gun, Banks said.

Also on the West Side, Eddie Romero, 22, was found dead on a sidewalk in the 1600 block of West 18th Street. Romero suffered gunshot wounds in the head and was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, authorities said.

Witnesses said the shots may have come from a white or silver van seen speeding from the area.